The U.S. Open starts today, and the pros are getting their tennis arms, and their Twittering thumbs, revved up for the game.
As discussed previously on this site, professional athletes are leaping onto the Twittering bandwagon, reaping the rewards of fans, marketing dollars from those companies for whom they shill (@bigsportsguy Just enjoyed some delicious, lip smackin' Golden Grahams!), and more fans.
But whispers coming from the U.S. Open's locker rooms -- where I'm clandestinely hiding in a tennis outfit and a fake mustache -- suggest that the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) is having a bit of a hissy fit over what may or may not be shared via Tweet.
Apart from being forbidden from Tweeting from the tennis court, players, coaches, confidantes, family members, and sport-loving clairvoyants have all reportedly been warned, via signs in the locker room and a mass email, against sharing "information about the likely participation or likely performance of a player in an event or concerning the weather, court conditions, status, outcome, or any other aspect of an event which is known by a covered person and is not information in the public domain."
At least one player is upset about this, and has said so... via Twitter. (Ha! Irony!)
@andyroddick: i think its lame the US Open is trying to regulate our tweeting.. i understand the on-court issue but not sure they can tell us if we can't do it on our own time
Surely fans would agree. Seeing one's favorite tennis player in chains due to a regulation on Tweeting is painful to say the least. But more importantly, it shoves a wall between them and the players who want so much to be able to keep fans abreast of their thoughts, feelings, and plans. After all of these years of existing on separate planes of the universe, celebrities and regular non-celebrities alike can finally (FINALLY) coexist on a Web network. The hierarchy is flattened now, and there's nothing the U.S. Open, God, or Barack Obama can do to take that privilege away!
Yawn.
I know we're all supposed to be reaaaaallllyyy excited that these fantastic celebrities are taking time out of their busy schedules to chat with us (that is, take five seconds to send a laconic update to a mass audience of thousands, if not millions -- and get paid for at least some of it). But my message to anyone who is upset about this, including Roddick, is: Get over it.
While it's fairly obvious that Tweeting insider information is a dumb idea (as Roddick notes in a follow-up Tweet), any slip of the thumb can create some real complications for all parties involved in the game (e.g., "Wow... wind playing havoc with my serve; doesn't help my left hamstring's in a knot"). Recall those geniuses who Tweeted the details of their cases during jury duty, causing the cases to go to mistrial, for example. Dumb. And unnecessary.
So though it may seem the mean man is trying to bring you down with his dictatorial laws on Tweets this U.S. Open season, try not to get too worked up about it. Andy Roddick and Serena Williams didn't really want to be your friend anyway. And, hey, at least no one's yet placed any restrictions on Ashton Kutcher's Tweeting habit.
By the way, can someone get on that last bit already... please?
Hi Paul, it's not an outright ban, as you can see in this example. The players can tweet off-court. Also, the parameters on what not to share has been set, particularly in this clause: "information about the likely participation or likely performance of a player in an event or concerning the weather, court conditions, status, outcome, or any other aspect of an event which is known by a covered person and is not information in the public domain."
For the US Open to implement this policy is not a violation of personal freedom. The organization has a legitimate right to privacy in this case, and freedom of speech ends where the right to privacy begins.
And if I were the US Open, I really would fear a breach in privacy through the Internet. People have already gotten so used to tweeting and blogging about aspects of their life that should remain private. Some studies have already shown that Generation Y has a miniscule sense of privacy. And while ordinary people wouldn't really have much of a secret to keep, the expectation of privacy is part of character and integrity. This is probably the reason why it's a "Tennis Integrity Unit" that's taking the actions in question. If people don't mind putting their own deepest and most personal experiences in plain view online, then I wouldn't be surprised if they'd lack that same discretion when it comes to insider information.
Once again, I agree with Mary. I think the US Open really has a say on these things with regard to the parties enumerated, but the audience should be free of the restriction, since they're not properly insiders. If they keep it that way, they'd just be one more organization fulfilling common principles of communication law and ethics.
I think the athletes are 'big' enough to know what distracts them from winning!! I really don't think we need another Czar to handle this issue. Whilst it is the responsibility of the employer to enusre that employees stay focus to maximize their productivity, pro-athlete should have the responsibility of doing that. I can understand if a team coach puts out this regulation beofr games but for an organizing body to do so is step too far. And besides, tennis is an individual sports and as a result such matters should be left to the discretion of the athlete. If he/she gets knock out on the first round for over tweeting, then he/she has to take resposniblity for that.
Surely, if Twittering detracts from employee productivity, it's got to break the focus of a pro athlete. Shut it off for the athletes, but not for the audience.
Well even a mustache can't hide you from regular folks here at IE. But who/what is this so called Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) that is showing complete disrespect to these athletes? Why not just put some regulations in place as to what and what not to tweeter rather than an outright ban?
So it seems that the TIU has concluded that these athletes are so amateur and childish thta they won't be able to know the difference of what information to tweeter and what not to tweeter. And to my greatest astonishment, this is hapeeing right in the city that is hosting the statue of liberty. What an irony!!!
The funny story here is that Nicole just needed some shades to infiltrate the ladies locker room where I have no doubt this "tweeting" story would have more prevalence... ;-)
as always, the bad use of a "tool" can be harmful, but this does not mean you have to block usage of that tool
I understant there's concern about insider information that can be used for betting, but this is not a good reason to stope everyone from tweeting
if you want to give out confidential information, you can do it using the phone, for example.
are players and everybody else stopped from bringing cell phones in the arena?
from my point of view every time you block a communication channel, you're just blocking people's freedom and, in this case, reducing fans' possibilities to enjoy the event.
I still just can't get excited about Tweeting. However, give me a good free speech issue like this one and all of a sudden my interest is way way up.
There is no excuse for censoring this stuff. People need to bee able to say what they want, whenever they want to, by voice, tweet, or carrier pigeon. No exceptions as far as I'm concerned. Ive made this radical statement before but it seemed appropriate to trot it out again.
I'd love for someone to take a snapshot of that then tweet it..(ofcourse I'd have to be following them to see the tweet..) or better yet, can you post a self portrait of this Nicole for Memorabilia?
I'm still not getting it. I can understand why a juror SHOULD NOT TWEET anything related to their jury duty outside of (I'm hungry or something)..but why can a player NOT TWEET about their on goings on and off the court again at the US Open? hmm, wonder what happens if they tweet something about wanting korean food from Flushing delivered..
Well, I would agree that this ruling probably has more to do with gambling than anything else. I also think the degree to which gambling controls sports has gotten downright scary. After all, Michael Vick is back in the NFL, while Pete Rose is banned from baseball.
Tweet whatever you'd like, as long as it doesn't interfere with business.
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